1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a quick-attach assembly for attaching an implement such as a plow blade to an off-road vehicle such as an ATV, UTV, riding mower or a garden tractor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, it has become common to mount a plow blade or other implement on the forward end of an off-road vehicle such as an ATV, UTV, riding mower or garden tractor. Most manufacturers utilize an elongated push tube assembly to mount the plow blade or implement to the vehicle. In most prior art plow blades, the rearward ends of the push tube assembly are pivoted to the vehicle about a transverse horizontal axis to permit the forward end of the push tube assembly, and the plow blade secured thereto, to be raised and lowered. In some cases, the rearward ends of the push tubes of the push tube assembly are quickly attachable to the vehicle. Generally speaking, in most prior art plow blade attachment devices, a flat base plate is secured to the forward ends of the push tubes with a blade pivot or blade swivel assembly being horizontally pivotally mounted, about a vertical axis, to the base plate so that the angle of the blade may be selectively changed. The plow blade is hingedly secured to the blade pivot assembly so that the pitch of the plow blade may be changed and so that the upper end of the plow blade may pivot forwardly with respect to the blade pivot and so that the lower end of the plow blade may pivot rearwardly should the lower end of the plow blade strike an obstruction.
Although the blade or implement attachments of the prior art perform satisfactorily, to the best of Applicant's knowledge, the plow blades or implements thereof are not quickly removably secured to the forward end of the push tube assembly. Thus, although the entire plow blade and its attachment structure may be fairly quickly attached to the vehicle, the push tube assembly cannot be used for any other purpose. Therefore, if other implements are to be mounted on the forward end of the vehicle, each of those implements must have a push tube assembly designed for the particular vehicle to which the implement is to be attached.
The invention of Applicant's co-pending application solved most, if not all, problems of the prior art. However, in Applicant's earlier invention, the forwardly extending tubes of the rear adapter assembly must be fairly precisely positioned or aligned with respect to the rearwardly extending receiver tubes of the front adapter assembly to enable the forwardly extending tubes to be received in the rearwardly extending receiver tubes.